Product Description

In this highly acclaimed revision, grammatical descriptions and teaching suggestions are organized into sections dealing with Form, Meaning, and Use. THE GRAMMAR BOOK, Second Edition helps teachers and future teachers grasp the linguistic system and details of English grammar, providing more information on how structures are used at the discourse level.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13327 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 854 pages

About the Author
Dr. Diane Larsen-Freeman is one of the most renowned names in the field of ESL particularly in the area of grammar. She is a professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Language Teacher Education at the School for International Training in Brattleboro Vermont. In addition to her co-authorship of The Grammar Book she is the editor of Discourse Analysis in Second Language Research and is the Series Director for Grammar Dimensions: Form Meaning and Use.

Customer Reviews

Lucid and comprehensive
I recently purchased this book and I can sincerely say that THE GRAMMAR BOOK is a well-written and well-structured book. Written primarily for ESL/EFL teachers as well as students, it contains every imaginable aspect of english grammar. Mastering english grammar has never been easier, even though I am not implying that it will not require a tremendous amount of effort on your side to master the advanced elements of grammar. None the less, as with everything else in life, being really good at something takes hard work and perseverance. THE GRAMMAR BOOK will dramatically improve your grammatical skills. Marianne Celce-Murcia uses simple terminology in her book in order to facilitate comprehension of difficult grammatical concepts. Even though the book is comprehensive, it nevertheless is lucid and accessible. Practising but especially prospective ESL/EFL teachers should find this book highly useful. Furthermore, advanced students of english as a foreign/second language should benefit from this book. Thus I strongly recommend THE GRAMMAR BOOK to prospective ESL/EFL teachers and advanced students of english language. In my view, this is not a book for beginners. Those who are rather unfamiliar with basic concepts of english grammar should purchase a book called FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR by Azar.

good reference book but dull textbook
I used this book in (of all things) a course on teaching English grammar. Everything you could possibly want to know seems to be covered. During the class and in conjunction with this book, I became acquainted with transformational grammar for the first time. I think "TG" was an unnecessary trauma that didn't improve my understanding of the subject or give me an insight on how to teach English grammar to my students. The book does have some useful teaching suggestions which make up for the the "TG" confusion. In the end, I'd say this is a good reference book but a dull textbook.

The "why" of English, in detail
You don't have to be a teacher of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) to use this book. You do have to be very interested in how to write and speak correct English, and in exceptions to rules and the patterns behind them. The book is more than a desk reference, but not meant to be read cover-to-cover. The curious reader can open at almost any chapter and learn something new about daily English usage. The authors assume knowledge of some grammatical terms -- look them up in a dictionary as needed (I did). Multiple indexes allow you to find explanations both by topic and by word.